Vicine and covicine removal from a feed stock

Abstract

A system and method for vicine/covicine removal includes generating a feed stock from a plant-based protein source, the plant-based protein source having anti-nutritionals disposed therein, including vicine and covicine. The system and method includes generating an ethanol slurry by combining the feed stock with an ethanol wash containing a first volume of ethanol and processing the ethanol slurry through an extractor to generate an ethanol matrix and a feed stock mass. The method and system further includes providing the feed stock mass to a desolventizer and generating a desolventized feed stock mass therefrom. Therein, the method and system includes drying the desolventized feed stock mass to generate a clean feed stock with at least a portion of the vicine/covicine removed therefrom.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for vicine and covicine removal comprising: generating a feed stock from a plant-based protein source having anti-nutritionals disposed therein, the anti-nutritionals including vicine and covicine;
 generating an ethanol slurry by combining the feed stock with an ethanol wash containing a first volume of ethanol; 
 processing the ethanol slurry through an extractor to generate an ethanol matrix and a feed stock mass; 
 generating a desolventized feed stock mass from the feed stock mass; and 
 
       generating a clean feed stock from the desolventized feed stock mass, wherein generating the clean feed stock removes at least a portion of the vicine and covicine and a plurality of additional compounds from the clean feed stock, wherein the compounds include one or more of: non-protein amino acids, alkaloids, glycosides, isoflavones, tannins, oligosaccharides, phytic acid, saponins, polyphenols, protease inhibitors, alpha-amylase inhibitors, trypsin inhibitors, lectins ethers and esters. 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the feed stock includes at least one of: flaking and milling the plant-based protein source. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 processing the clean feed stock for generating a protein output having the vicine and covicine removed therefrom. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the protein source is in the form of at least one of: flakes, meal and powder. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , the ethanol matrix including an organic mass mixed with ethanol, the method further comprising:
 providing the ethanol matrix to an evaporator for recovering the ethanol therefrom. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5  further comprising refeeding the recovered ethanol from the evaporator for inclusion with the ethanol wash. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plant-based protein source is fava beans. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating of the ethanol slurry is performed using at least one of: an immersion blender and a counter-current extractor. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the clean feed stock further includes removing a plurality of compounds adversely impacting color of the clean feed stock. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the clean feed stock further includes removing a plurality of compounds adversely impacting a glycemic index factor of the clean feed stock.